This is the second post in our Teacher success stories series. The first one was about Irma Horvath, who despite being a NNEST, landed a great job with the BC in Malaysia, and is now training other teachers. You can read it here.

This time we move to Italy, where Larissa set up her own flourishing teaching business.She’s a passionate blogger and you can find her blog here. So without much further ado, let’s hear how Larissa’s managed to succeed despite the odds.

Larissa: “When I was asked to write this post I felt immediately so excited at the prospect of telling my experience in the teaching language business which wasn’t easy at all. Firstly, let me introduce myself.

Name: Larissa Albano.

Even though my name sounds Russian (my mother loved Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak), I’m an Italian born and bred. Well, I…

Chad is an American in his early twenties. He completed a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, but didn’t know what to do with his life after graduation. He got average grades in college, is reasonably smart, but lacks marketable skills. His choices after graduation are entry-level positions at a few local companies, but he doesn’t want to sit at a desk all day. Eventually, Chad hears about a friend who’s working as an English teacher in Japan. According to this friend, the salary is good, the women are beautiful, and the job is easy.

“Do you need teaching experience to get a job like that?” Chad asks his friend.

“No,” his friend replies. “You just need to be a native speaker of English.”

Chad is eventually hired in a similar school in Japan. He begins teaching classes. He is called “teacher.” He comes up with creative ideas for how to teach his…